#NextEra ‘bullish’ on US non-utility RE market

NextEra Energy, the largest US solar and wind power generator, has identified non-utility buyers of renewable energy as a “big piece of our business over the next three to five years,” says Mike O’Sullivan, senior vice president of development.
“I’m bullish about it. I would be very surprised that the nontraditional customer is not much larger than it is today. I don’t think it will ever get quite as large as the traditional utility customer. But, I would expect hundreds of megawatts per year, if not an order of magnitude of 500 to 1,000 megawatts a year of renewable procurement from these types of companies. At least in the US footprint,” he says.

Nontraditional buyers include companies with manufacturing operations, hospitals, large retailers such as Costco, IKEA, Kohl’s and Walmart, technology companies and universities, among others that either use large amounts of electricity and/or are looking to reduce carbon emission in their operations.